Sunday, March 23, 2014

"Pretty Sly"

Elisa Ludwig enjoys writing about teen outlaws, even though she herself has never been one. Pretty Sly is her second novel and the sequel to Pretty Crooked. She lives in Philadelphia, where she is hard at work on the third installment of Willa Fox's adventures.

“Mind telling me where we’re going?” I asked Tre from the passenger seat.

He’d been silent for the past five minutes as he drove us along. Surprises were cute and all, but I was pretty sure I’d had enough of them in the past few days to last me for the next fifteen years.

I scanned the scene outside the window for more information. We were heading south out of the Valley on Route 51, I could tell that much. His Audi picked up speed as we merged onto a huge multi-lane highway lined with sound barrier walls, and passed under a big green sign indicating that the airport was five miles ahead.

“Are we flying somewhere?”

Tre just shook his head. “Damn, you’re impatient. We’re finding you an alternative means of transport. If you’re going to skip town, you can’t go taking public transportation or using your credit cards.”

This excerpt is certainly ironic, given where the story goes. Willa has just said she's had enough surprises to last her for her next fifteen years but in terms of her journey in this book (and the next one, really), she's just getting started. There are many, many more surprises that lay ahead of her!

It also sets up the trip itself. She knows at this point that her mom is missing and she needs to go find her, but she hasn't figured out exactly the best way to go about it since leaving means skipping out on her probation. In this scene, Tre helps her find her mode of transportation but in the process she realizes she really can't take this trip alone. That's where her wingman (and mega crush) Aidan Murphy comes into play. By the end of this scene the trip has launched, she's hit the road and the adventure begins!